In a world moving at a faster pace every day, where people expect their needs to be gratified instantly, there is no better tool for relationship and business building than email. How else could people keep up with the demand for prompt and quick service that exists in today's frenetically paced market? Email can help you add value, increase customer loyalty and generate referrals.
Email is instant, inexpensive, and you can personalize messages and information to suit your clients' exact needs. The process can even be automated and linked with an up-to-date database, making it incredibly efficient. For example, take the following comparison of how a typical company newsletter could be managed using email instead of conventional printing and mailing methods:
The traditional approach to creating a newsletter requires a lot of time and money. Think about how much energy goes into writing, designing, printing, and mailing a newsletter created for clients and prospects. The cost of a professionally created newsletter can be $6,000 or more for five thousand copies - and almost $2,000 of that is postage. In addition, due to the complex nature of most newsletter projects, by the time clients read the newsletter (if they read it), much of its content will be stale or out-of-date. Never mind the fact that it could contain large portions of information that may not interest certain clients at all.
Using email is a great way to add more value than you can with traditional newsletters, and it's so much more efficient. With a properly built database containing information about individual client preferences and a system to distribute the email, you can send personalized newsletters containing information of particular interest to specific customers. And it's all sent instantly, without any printing or postage costs. Working with email, you can give people what they want, when they want it, for less.
Eliminating printing and delivery costs should also allow you to communicate with your clients more frequently. A quarterly newsletter can be broken down and sent out in three interactive, monthly editions. More value can be added by creating instant links to websites where your clients might go for information or to respond to specific offers. You can include links to email auto-responders that are programmed to instantly answer any emailed inquiries by replying with specific information about current promotions, product specials, event schedules, or anything else you'd like to communicate with your clients about. And, you can conduct highly effective client surveys, referral campaigns, and feedback drives on new product or service ideas by emailing those you want information from. Your website can be set up to tally and analyze responses, providing you with nothing but complete results.
There is no limit to email's potential. However, be careful to treat each emailed communication you receive with the respect it deserves. Senders will usually expect an immediate response. If you can't or don't provide one, they'll probably shake their heads and be off to your competition. Because, just like anything else, with email you don't just have to "do it" to be successful - you have to do it right.
Proper use of email adds value to your business, increasing customer loyalty and creating opportunities for you to generate additional business and referrals. And this is why: Email allows you to provide your clients with something that even a lower price elsewhere cannot compete with -- frequent personalized contact.
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